


Arcade Days!!

by oyaoya



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, i really love their friendship so i wrote about it!!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-30
Updated: 2017-01-31
Packaged: 2018-09-03 09:40:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8707342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oyaoya/pseuds/oyaoya
Summary: The Karasuno and Nekoma teams hang out at an arcade in Akihabara. Shenanigans ensue!Oh, and Aone's there, too. And Bokuto. (Wait, how many people are in this series!?)





	1. Anything Can Be Volleyball if You Believe In Yourself (or something like that)

**Author's Note:**

> My second attempt at Haikyuu fanfiction! Part 1 of a multi-part series centered around different friendships. This chapter is all about Hinata and Aone! Hope you enjoy!

" _WHOOOOAAAAAOOOOUUuuAA_!!!"

  
The cry of the Hinata can be heard far and wide, even in an arcade packed with crowds and noise. It's said that anyone familiar with the cry can hear it for miles away. Asahi claims he heard it once, while visiting relatives in Kyoto, though this has yet to be confirmed by a scientific board.  
In any case, Hinata is here -- gawping in awe at the blinking, beeping machines around him. It's been a while since he's been to a real arcade, and never has he seen one so lively as this Akihabara hot spot. It was so kind (and kind of surprising) for the Nekoma boys to host their Karasuno rivals on their trip to Tokyo. But in a sea of unsettlingly strong teams, the cats and crows have mutually agreed that strength lies in numbers.

That's not to say there aren't a few outliers in their alliance. Aone is here, too. Hinata can barely see him, at first. He has to press his way past a whirlpool of people, perking his ears up at the undercurrent of hushed whispers, 'who IS this dude', 'he's been playing MaiMai for an hour straight', 'and he hasn't messed up once??', 'no way'.

No way. Hinata can see him if he stands on tiptoe. When that becomes unbearable, he leaps above the crowd, over and over, in sort of a frantic bunny's hop. He sees the performance in fragments, every hop affording him a new opportunity to understand what all the ruckus is about.

Aone's at the heart of this madness. He's stone-faced, brows (or rather, where brows should be) furrowed in deep concentration. He's slapping at the edges of the screen -- no, not slapping, he was gentler than that, but -- oh, and now he's swiping, swiping furiously at streaks of neon light! Hinata can only hear the faint pulse of the music, so he can't quite catch the rhythm, but...

...but it's perfect. Literally. Every swipe, every tap (no, tap wasn't it either, there's more power in his touch than tapping alludes), every motion matches the streaks and floating dots on the circular screen. And he doesn't stop. He doesn't let up for a second. It's...it's just so...  
"COOOOOOOOOOOOOOL~" Hinata's eyes are as wide as dinnerplates. He's never seen anything so amazing. He crawls and slides his way through the crowd to the very front -- still a foot away from his friend.

"AONE-SAAAAN, _GANBAREEEE_!!"

The voice cuts through Aone like a knife; it's the only thing that's reached his ears for the past hour. He almost misses the last set of notes -- almost -- but recovers just in time. He breathes a very soft sigh of relief. Then, to everyone's surprise, he turns around to face the tiny redhead beaming at him.

"Hinata Shoyo."

  
~*~

  
"That was amazing, Aone-san!" Hinata's been talking at him ever since he left his MaiMai post. They're huddled by the vending machines in the back. Hinata clutches covetously at a vanilla-blue raspberry swirl ice cream cone, the ice cream itself stiff and prepackaged, cylindrical. Aone opts for a matcha cone, a deep forest green. He tucks his gloves in his back pocket. Can't afford to get those stained.

Hinata's still talking. "When the notes started floating to the top, you were like _FWOOM_ , and then you swiped the screen like _fsshhh-fsshhh_ , and then at the end when you had to _doon-doon-doon-doon-doon_ \-- ahhh, it was incredible!"

In the moment it takes for Hinata to pause and lick his cone, Aone responds.

"I can show you."

Hinata nearly drops his ice cream cone, taken aback by that sudden deep voice. Everything Aone says sounds so gravely important, in his baritone. "Eh!? Really?" The Tiny Giant-to-be looks up at his much taller friend in wonder. "Do you think I could do it like you?"

Aone cracks a smile at this. Very subtle, but it's there. "No." (Hinata deflates a little.) "But I can teach you the fundamentals. I think...you'd be suited for this kind of game."  
Regaining his smile and unending well of energy, Hinata looks ready to race back to the machines.

"Finish your ice cream first," Aone reminds him; it would sound chiding if it wasn't so monotone. Hinata eagerly tries to eat the entire cone in two bites, the way he's seen Nishinoya do it on occasion. Halfway through the first bite he cringes with brain freeze. He's met with a firm pat on the back and a pitying look from his Date Tech pal, who simply throws the rest of his own cone in the trash.

~*~

"First." Aone hands Hinata his gloves with a flourish. Soft cotton, white, with teal stripes. They're a little (a lot) big on Hinata, but he makes do.

"Now. Stand here." He guides him gently, pays for Hinata's turn despite the boy's awkward stuttering of "W-wait, I-I think I have a hundred yen, h-hold on!!" He puts it on an easy song. Easy, but fast-paced. Hinata tries his best to keep up, but once he misses one note, he misses a chain. Aone jumps in only to save him from failing the song entirely.  
They stand there like that, Aone towering above his tiny friend, for half an hour, practicing easy track after easy track, to no avail. Then, the white-haired MaiMai maven speaks again.

"Think of it this way," he says as he scrolls through the menu of songs. "When the ball is spiked to you, you see its arc, almost as if in slow-motion. Correct?"

"...mm." Hinata nods, not entirely sure what Aone's getting at.

"Regardless of the speed, see each note as the ball. Note its trajectory. Know where it's going, and by extension, where you need to go." By now, a new song has just begun. Just as a dot floats to the edge of the screen, Aone hits the corresponding button. "And strike."

Aone can see the resolve shining in Hinata's eyes. He jumps back into it even quicker than Aone anticipated, and now he's hitting every note, and doing pretty damn well. When Hinata's finished, he turns back to him, triumphant.

Aone nods in approval. And then -- gives him a firm thumbs up. "Good job."

Coming from one who only says what he needs to say, this is the highest praise. And it's enough to keep Hinata smiling for days.


	2. Initial D(-bags)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuroo and Bokuto reach across the Nekoma-Fukurodani line to team up and take down one of Karasuno's fiercest players.
> 
> ...by hassling him at an arcade.
> 
> Also they play racing games!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait on chapter 2! Took some time off from writing for a while. I'll try to post chapters more frequently from now on! Thanks for your patience, hope you enjoy!

Tanaka is burning red. From the base of his neck to the very tippy-top of his shaved head, he is crimson. Super Table-Flip definitely isn't the best game for his particularly - shall we say firey? - temperament -- but where there was a Test of Strength, there too was Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Wing Spiker of the Gods, ready to show his stuff. He'd been fairly confident when he'd wandered over to the machine twenty minutes prior. Unfortunately, They'd been waiting for him. Sitting poised in the red plastic seats of the latest racing game, only a few feet away, they'd sat, biding their time until their easy prey had been spotted.

  
" _Oya oya_ , what do we have here?" Tanaka felt Bokuto's hand settle on his left shoulder, Kuroo's on his right. Without even seeing them, he could feel their smug little faces, their matching cheshire grins, both aimed at him. Had Daichi or Suga been present, they could have prevented this all from happening. Sadly, Tanaka was a lone crow cornered by a vicious cat and his googly-eyed owl companion. Only bad things could come of this union.

  
It doesn't take too many snide remarks to get Tanaka as steamed as a boiled egg. Just a few light suggestions as he's playing. They alternate in perfect sync, a dynamic duo if ever there was one. This isn't the first time they've played this game. It was the best kind of game, the one you didn't have to schlep all the way to an arcade for. Just find a local dummy (preferably a hot-head), and go to town.

  
" _Hey hey_ , is that the best you can do?"  
"That's not even the high score."  
"Not even close."  
"Isn't this game all about your hand strength, Kuroo?"  
"Mm, and your tosses."  
"Could it be he's not good at either?"  
"Karasuno must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel for players these days, huh? How sad."  
"So sad."  
"Tragic, really."

" _HNNNNNYYEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHH_!!!!" That's enough for Tanaka to upend that table into outer space - or at least, far enough for the hinge on the little plastic table to crack in half, effectively breaking the machine.

  
The good news is, he definitely got the high score. The bad news is, an arcade attendant has noticed and is quickly making his way over to a terrified Tanaka -- who, despite his desire for a Bad Boy rep, has Never Done a Bad Thing in His Life. This seems to be the perfect time for Kuroo and Bokuto to take their leave, just as silently as they had arrived.

  
"You think that was a little too mean, man?" Bokuto asks after a sick high-five, looking over his shoulder at the unfolding scene. They were already headed for a more crowded section of the floor, where they'd lay low for a while.  
"Nah, he'll be fine," Kuroo dismisses this with a wave. "Those things break all the time. He'll get a slap on the wrist, at best." Neither of them had anticipated such a reaction, though, and delicious as it was, there was a twinge of guilt that maybe they'd really made a mistake jUST KIDDING it was fucking rad and they both knew it!!!

  
They commemorate their monumental win with selfies in the purikura booth. Bokuto chooses all the filters, a barrage of softening and rays of light and added flushes of color to their cheeks. They look beautiful. He then lets Kuroo deface his good work with ugly stickers, all giant cowboy mustaches and Cool Shades. Never truly finished, Kuroo also uses the Draw tool so he can black out a few of their teeth. Together, they create a perfect masterpiece of synchronous discord, a sort of terrifying beauty that they can both be proud of. They stuff their strips of photos in their backpacks, protecting them from the outer elements.

  
Once the dust has settled, and neither Tanaka nor the disgruntled attendant can be found, Bokuto and Kuroo make their way back to their usual red seats. They play round after round of racing games, hopping around the floor to try different ones, showing off their suped up rides before crashing into one another with unbridled glee. Kuroo lets Bokuto win every race, despite knowing he's the better driver. Akaashi specifically told him before they left on this excursion that under _no circumstances_ were they to call him for a Bokuto Meltdown. "It's bad enough that I have to deal with him _on_ the court," he'd lamented to an understanding Kuroo.

  
That's alright, though. It didn't really matter to Kuroo who won, off the court. Truth be told, it was kind of hard, being Bokuto's competitor. But, that was their fate -- rival schools, rival teams. They'd always be duking it out.

  
One thing's for sure, though -- they'd always work better together.


End file.
